Am I the only one bugged by the fact that mods and admns have been going back and changing their earlier posts?
In the last couple days I’ve noticed more than a few instances where a mod has obviously gone back to their original post and changed it.
This is unfair.
Us ragular posters have to live with the post we made at the time. Spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, all of it. How come you guys and gals can go back and change your posts when we’re stuck with the original, not necessarily correct posts?
Links? Did they change the context of the post? Or did they just change a spelling error or a coding error or something? How do you know?
I very highly doubt that they changed their post, as in deleting the entire post and replacing it with something completely different. Although I don’t actually know. I’m pretty sure though.
Like I said, I’m sure that they didn’t change the meaning behind their original posts. That said (again), I can’t even guess on Tuba’s post, but she probably had her reasons. I’ll say that Euty’s was probably an error with the italics (which is actually really annoying) and UncleBeer messed up the email link (really just a matter of convenience for a member). I’ve seen a few instances where a moderator has done the same for a member. It’s really not a big deal as long as they aren’t posting one thing, then going back five minutes later and changing their entire post.
That is a tiny typo, easily deciphered by the rest of us. I’m sure we would have guessed it was meant to read “regular”. I really hope you don’t think that the mods run around correcting every single typo/spelling error they’ve made, because that just isn’t true.
I guess that it’s because mods can trust themselves to not go back and change the whole context of a post just 'cos they’re losing an argument (in the unlikely case that such a situation should occur). The same cannot be assumed for the rest of us.
If we were all trustworthy then no doubt we would also be allowed to go and edit our spelling, grammatical and coding errors.
I edit my posts occasionally to correct misspellings, and, of course, fix vB tags and URL’s. I’ll also edit member’s posts to fix the tags and links. I can guarantee that I’ve never edited my posts for content, though. Nor would I. Our authority comes from the goodwill and respect of the community at large; getting caught changing the content of a post is going to destroy that goodwill and with it our perceived authority. So, besides being unethical, editing content just ain’t worth the cost.
As for correcting my own spelling errors, hey, some benefit should accrue to the staff for the time we spend sweeping and mopping. If you wanna begrudge us that simple lagniappe, or don’t trust us even that far, I don’t know what to tell ya, but someone’s gotta have the power to edit. Tough luck, bub.
Easy, Cnote. If they really did that sort of thing, someone would have seen it. They would have seen that the “edited” version was substantially different from what they first read, other than the odd typo or coding error.
We seem to have enough anti-mod crybabies here in ATMB that are just eagerly waiting for such an opportunity to occur (“Salem! It’s a plot! Conspirancy!!”). Had it really been the case at one point, I’m positive one of these whiners would have pointed it out.
A mod would NOT look good with that sort of suspicion against them. Therefore, my guess is they simply don’t do that sort of thing.
Everything that we do here is based on the trust our members have in us to do the right thing.
This is trust built through experience and over time. Some of us have worked in the public view on Cecil’s behalf for quite a few years now and what we are and what we do should be apparent. That does mean the bad as well as the good (I admit I’ve made some huge mistakes in my years here), but if we weren’t doing what we’re supposed to be doing Ed and the Reader would run us out of here in a hurry.
If you’re suspicious of us and our motives in everything that we do, that basis of trust is nonexistent and there’s really nothing we can do to convince you otherwise.
And that’s too bad. If you don’t see what we do, what we’ve done, who we are, you ain’t gonna ever get it. And that really is a shame and say much more about you than it says about anybody that works here and not to your credit, either.
None of us are perfect but we do our best.
We cherish the faith and trust put in us by our Teeming Millions. Everybody that works on this site has earned it by virtue of what they do on your behalf and they do not deserve to have their every word and deed questioned like they’re on trial.
It’s also an incredible insult to these people, people that work their asses off so that you have the best experience here that we can provide. Thanks for the slap, mister.
I have upon occasion edited my own posts to correct typos, and I would happily edit any member’s typos upon request. I have also edited other members’ posts to fix links (or add links), or to elimininate double-postings. It don’t go further than that.
Well I guess I’m different then. I never make vBulletin coding mistakes or typographical errors, the only reason I edit my posts is to bring to life the green-eyed monster. I know that when the Teeming Millions see the “this post has been edited by Arnold Winkelried” line they wail and gnash their teeth, and beg the IPU to grant them the same godlike powers. But I just laugh at them from my eminent position. MWAHAHAHAHA!
Yeah, Dex, and don’t edit waterj2’s comma yourself.
Ask another mod to do it, so you’ll know how it feels on us plebes, who have to suffer in agony while waiting for a mod to change an errant Freudian “masturbation” into a corrected “mastication”. (Yes! Of course I must have meant, that is, I did mean “while I was watching porno while eating”)